Hero
by HPLadyBelle
Summary: Companion piece to the Boys Called Marauders... Set after James and Lily's deaths. Milton goes to console a disturbed and mourning Sirius, but their meeting is derailed when Sirius gets arrested for the murder of Peter Pettigrew.


**Hero**

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**Author's Note: **This story is a companion piece to my story "The Boys Called Marauders". If you haven't read it, then I definitely recommend it! It's a much different tone than this one, as it's a humorous story and this is more somber. However, if you just don't want to take the time, here's a little background info:

In their sixth year, the Marauders started mentoring a group of Gryffindor third years, as part of a new initiative at Hogwarts. Sirius mentored Milton Boyd, a boy with confidence issues who Sirius helped gain more self-esteem and respect. Sirius took Milton on as a sort of apprentice, or Marauder in training so that he could carry on the tradition after Sirius graduated. The two became good friends while at school together and remained friends afterward.

NOTE: If the Marauders were 22 or so when Harry was born, then the mentored third years would have been around 19.

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**Summary**: After the deaths of Lily and James Potter, Milton goes to console Sirius, but their meeting is derailed when Sirius is arrested for the murder of Peter Pettigrew. This is the story of the Marauders and their third year pals all grown up and how they cope with the situation.

**Disclaimer**: JKR owns any characters mentioned in the Harry Potter books. I take credit for the concept of the mentor program and the characters not mentioned in the books, especially Milton, Addison, and Adrian.

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**"Hero"**

**A Boys Called Marauders Story**

Milton Boyd stepped out into the street. There was some sort of commotion going on, but he couldn't tell what. He was already late to meet Sirius for lunch. Milton had arranged it so he could make sure Sirius was all right. He wanted to check up on him. He knew Sirius must still be a wreck. James and Lily had only just died. Milton hadn't known them very well outside of school, but even he was still pretty shaken up. He was supposed to be meeting Sirius at the Leaky Cauldron; he just had to get out of this Muggle area so he could apparate.

A hand reached out suddenly and blocked Milton's way. He looked up to see a Muggle police officer standing in front of him, trying to stop him from moving forward.

"I'm sorry, sir," the officer said, "but I'm afraid you can't go any further."

Milton took a step back and looked out into the street to try and see why this officer was so set on getting in the way. There were many other officers running about. Onlookers spoke in worried, hushed tones. There was too much chaos to tell what was going on. Milton heard several gasps as the activity began to settle, save for three officers in the middle of the street, fighting hard to restrain a man who was flailing wildly, screaming and shouting, and trying desperately to break free.

Milton turned to a woman standing next to him.

"Excuse me, Miss, but what's going on?" he asked her. "Who is that man?"

"I don't know. He just blew up another man," she said.

"Blew up?" Milton repeated, shocked at the words. "How do you mean?"

"He was there one moment, and gone the next. There was a blast and he was gone… completely obliterated," the woman explained. She sounded shaken and scared.

Milton turned back to the street. The police were still struggling to control the screaming man. He gave a violent jerk and broke free of one of the officer's hold. Milton felt his heart skip a beat and his stomach turned. He covered his mouth to keep from screaming out.

It was Sirius. Sirius was the screaming lunatic in the street. Sirius had killed a man. No, no… it couldn't be. It was all happening too fast. Sirius wouldn't… he wouldn't do that… ever. Sirius wasn't a murderer. He was his friend. His friend Sirius…

Milton closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the horrible scene didn't go away. Instead, it was even more vivid than before. The man was most definitely Sirius, his friend Sirius Black. Milton felt sick. He realized he'd been holding his breath. He removed his hand from his mouth and inhaled several big gulps of air. The nausea didn't go away.

A group of people shoved past him and into the street. They headed to the officers who were now failing to get Sirius into a police car. To the Muggle eye, they just looked like special operations officers, but Milton understood. They were the Aurors coming to do damage control on the Muggles and take Sirius off to Azkaban.

As Milton looked on feeling helpless, the Aurors somehow got Sirius quiet and calm. They surrounded him and walked him back through the crowd, toward an alleyway. One of them stayed behind to deliver a speech about how everything was under control. Milton didn't really listen. His eyes followed Sirius as he was escorted off the scene. For a split second, Milton thought he had caught his eye, but he soon realized that Sirius was only staring blankly off into nothing. He'd cut himself off from this world.

Milton put his hand back over his mouth to try and control the returning nausea. He was feeling dizzy and weak, like he might faint. He felt small and powerless, like he hadn't felt since his early years at Hogwarts, the days before he had known Sirius, before they were friends.

Twenty minutes ago, he was supposed to be meeting Sirius for a nice lunch. In less than ten, everything he had known was shattered. One of his best friends was going to prison for murder. He felt like the world was collapsing in on him. His expression, too, turned blank, and he apparated out of that horrible place, not caring who saw.

A few seconds later, he was on a porch, standing in front of a door. Before he even knocked, the door opened and his girlfriend stood in the door frame.

"Hey, you're here early!" she said. "How was lunch?"

Milton looked at the ground and sighed deeply.

"What's wrong?" Addison asked, worriedly.

Milton looked up, meeting her eyes for the first time.

"Addy, I have terrible news…"

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So, what did you think? Please let me know in a review. I would really like to continue this story, but to make it the best it can be, I need your feedback! 

While you're at it, if you haven't already, please check out "The Boys Called Marauders" and my other stories and song parodies.

Thanks for reading!


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